5 METHODS OF BRAND STORYTELLING
In the past, stories were a way to entertain and getting people to react, but time is changing and now stories can become a brand’s selling point. Curious to know more? We have you covered. We present to you 5 methods of brand storytelling. How do you make your customers buy into the stories you tell? These questions and many more will be answered in time. Bear in mind, some brands would rather not tell a story, but every brand has a story. Those stories are sometimes dependent on what the brand was founded on. Essentially, the most important part is finding a way to seamlessly merge brand and storytelling into video production or any other form of advertisement.
Now a lot of brands would say advertisement is storytelling, but we know better. A couple of neatly cut pictures displayed on the screen isn’t a story told. Instinctively, people believe when there is motion on a screen then a story is being told. True but also false, storytelling needs these components: a start, a middle, and an end. In screenwriting, these are regarded as acts I, II, and III. However, some brand advertisements lack ⅔ of that story component. Done right, a story told should evoke an emotion, in shorter terms, stories are meant to make you feel. In brand terms, stories are meant to make you take action to buy products or apply for services. When a brand tells a story, but nothing happens, customers are indifferent or unmoved, then it has failed to tell a brand story. So, let’s figure out the 5 methods of brand storytelling.
METHODS OF BRAND STORYTELLING
BRAND- CHARACTER TELLING-5 METHODS OF BRAND STORYTELLING
Everyone loves a good comeback story or a “fail and never give up”. As humans, we connect to such stories seamlessly because in life you will have more failures than wins. What’s more, we all have a comeback story in our relationships, businesses, or families. Positively, shining light on your biggest failure and success will spark emotions in viewers to understand that you weren’t built overnight and in those hard times, you found what defines your brand. So, incorporate stories of how your brand came to be. Effectively, a bottling company somewhere in Dublin, Ireland created a dark, rich stout known today as Guinness, but its founding date remained its selling point for a lengthy period.
Popularly, the biggest recipient of that successful advert campaign apart from Guinness was Cleveland Mitchell who played Michael Power, the popular action character, created for TV that propelled the brand to new heights. Michael Power goes through daredevil stunts and bad guys proclaiming his action time is 17:59, the founding date of the brand. Guinness successfully imprinted the founding date of the brand in the mind of customers. That was a way to remind their customers and themselves how far they have come from the year 1759 till date.
Another thing the brand did was successfully personify the stout with a dark-skinned, tough, ready-for-action character. This telling was so successful that it left customers with one goal when they purchased a bottle of Guinness- it would bring out the action in them.
PERSONAL TELLING
To effectively talk to the audience, a brand must be ready to put it all out there. That is to become a personal storytelling brand, everything information about you as a founder or CEO will be brought to light. Ideally, your principles, your norms, and ideas are infused into your brand and in turn, stories told by your brand. Steve Jobs fused his personality as a thought leader into the Apple brand. He used his shortcomings, setbacks – like getting fired from his own company, his comebacks- to get back to where he was fired from.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak reportedly founded Apple and in 1985 Jobs was fired from Apple. Fast forward 11 years after and Jobs is the CEO of Apple, and we all know how that went. Today, Jobs’ failure and turnaround has become part of the brand storytelling that everyone who knows it takes time to create a legacy looks up to.
EMPLOYEE TELLING
As much as we all love a good comeback story, we also love a starting-from-the-bottom story. Honestly speaking, everyone loves to hear that sleepless nights put into becoming the person they are today. Likewise, you can focus on telling us about your most admired employees, who they are, and how their sacrifice for your brand is always appreciated. In turn, the customers realize they are not just purchasing from a faceless brand and your employees feel part of a bigger plan.
Also, it’s a way to show gratitude to employees who go over and below for the brand’s success. But most importantly, your employee’s admirable quality could be used as a selling point. WATCH THIS … this is Ada, she caters to the needs of every employee from top to bottom. True some may say she has the easiest job to do as the cleaning lady but bear in mind the easiest jobs become the hardest to do over time and that’s why we at Eronlanx, we understand the need to never see any job as easy least we become complacent and fail to deliver a mastery of visual artwork to sell your brand to the world. Notice how the seemingly bottom-tier employee was magnified to being a strong pillar for our brand.
Now that’s what happens when you realize your core values as a brand aren’t written with the finest words, but they are found in every single pillar that holds your brand firm and those are your employees. Tell their stories and show more appreciation for the seemingly easy jobs.
PURPOSE TELLING
Why and who do you exist for? Certainly, this is a question every brand should be able to answer straight out of bed. What is the essence of your brand, who needs you and why do they need you? Inter connectedly, both questions hold the answer to your purpose and a whole lot more. Firstly, when you find purpose, it would be hard to quit because you know someone needs you. For you it becomes an understanding of being created by you but not for you. As humans we always search for purpose but forget that once you can help others achieve their goals, you have achieved yours. Unrivaled is the feeling of doing for others.
Secondly, your purpose tells your brand the path to take in achieving set goals. Always knowing that you are part of a higher course is truly uncontested. Live for your customers. Now carefully craft a telling like no other so the audience understands what you offer. Tell us about how your brand can help, not the gadgets it has on display. Tell who it can help, not anyone it can help. Find purpose, find your market.
CUSTOMER TELLING
Customers are always 99% right and they do more than being right. In the journey of brand storytelling, customers shine the brightest because people want to know how your product works and it is most believed from the mouth of a satisfied customer. Also, customers are the only ones who can truly tell how effective your product is. Additionally, customers bring more customers, so if they say your product gets a 5 star, then it gets a 5 star.
As a brand why not tell the stories of your most loyal customers? Tell stories of the journey to find your product/service. Notice how people search for products to make them achieve set goals like gaining more muscles, gaining better knowledge of programming language-python, and a lot more. After your customers have searched for a series of products that failed to live up to expectations and BOOM, they find your brand all is answered.
Why not shed light on such journeys, so others can see reason to flock to you? Everyone loves to hear how your product enhances someone’s life but not directly from you. It’s also a way of letting your customer base do the selling of your product/service. All you have to do is craft desirable visuals, and thoughtful words and turn the spotlight on them.
To wrap this up, understand the methods of brand telling are so diverse and widespread but we do our best to bring you the best of the list. Brand storytelling is the power given to your brand to sell it’s products/services. It is also a way of communication of a new product or service. For instance, banks these days have mobile apps which come as a brand of their name and purpose but are still under a large brand, WEMA has ALAT etc.
Brand Storytelling is open to every brand. So many means/methods can be device to tell brand stories in the best way possible. Hence, the need to welcome new methods of telling brand stories. Your only limitation is not finding these methods. What’s more, stories are a part of our lives and that’s why we connect with them so deeply. Incorporate brand storytelling as a brand and watch the turnaround in sales.
WE ARE ERONLANX
I weave words together to create an amazing read and a mind-blowing experience. I am still in the business of dropping jaws and leaving mouths ajar with ideas even dreams fail to put together. The name is Ogbuka belu screenwriter/ content creator/ show creator/ ideas guys- with me immortality is an idea away, so let me create for you.
